Logistics An & Operational Management Assignment Sample

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Introduction

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This report is about the importance of sustainability in business and logistic operations. In Business and operation sustainability refers to the performing the marketing or dealing without making any negative impact on the environment and society.

Nowadays sustainability in the business operation plays a major role to build the positive impression of business in the marketplace. Sustainability is important because it assists to increase the brand values, positive growing rate of efficiency and create new opportunities for others. Business strategies now focusing on sustainability and the correct process of using them in the business to increase the business value in the marketplace. There are some steps that can be used for making business strategies about using sustainability. Some of these steps are - Finding the issues and defining the objectives where the organization is required to analyse the amount of waste that are created by the organization, analysing the process of hiring people and understanding the amount of attracting new talent towards the organizations offered job roles, analyzing the impact of organization in the society or community to understand whether it is positive or negative and finding the correct way of attracting more consumers towards the brand and products. Setting up the mission where companies are required to set their certain goal. Companies are required to serve their best products to the customers. They are required to maintain quality of products and also setting up the correct pricing of the product is important for the organization to stand significantly in the marketplace. Creating the business strategies where organizations are required to build the strategies in such a way which ensure that it remains profitable. Apart from that, small changes such as ensuring that organizations do not consume the extra electricity, it means ensuring that organizations do not leave the power resources even when there are no employees on the site or office. Saving the power resource is one of the major things for environmental sustainability. Analyzing and understanding these parameters assist organizations to build sustainability objectives. Apart from that, some of the sustainability issues that are rapidly growing in the business process are also important to analyze and find the correct way to reduce negative issues in business sustainability.

 

In this report sustainability issues in business processes and the way business operations have changed their strategies to serve better sustainability are discussed and analyzed closely. Also this report identifies and discusses the one sustainability issue along with the importance of required changes in business operations.

a) Identifying sustainability issue

Sustainability refers to the meaning of fulfilling one's own requirements or needs without affecting the ability of future generations to unite with their own needs. Sustainability plays a key point in the business processes as every business process and organizations are rapidly paying their attention towards the building sustainable business process. As stated by Nosratabadi, Mosavi et al. (2019), it assists organizations to increase brand promotion and also attract the higher graph of consumers towards their products. Organizations are required to maintain their quality of products with correct pricing as compared to other brands in the market. Gaining consumer trust is one of the major components in the business process to achieve business goals and increase sustainability strategies. As discussed by Goni, et al. (2021), Sustainability assists to improve the quality of lives and it protects the ecosystem to preserve the natural resources which can be helpful for the future generations.

In business operations sustainability development has some serious issues, such as waste production, climate change, loss of biodiversity and management of natural resources. As opined by Bilan, et al. (2020), maximum business processes are becoming sustainable and managing, developing proper sustainability strategies for the business development become the global issue. 

As global sustainability complications affect the people differently depending on the certain circumstances of human birth background.

One of the major business sustainability issues is “climate change”. Climate is changing rapidly globally and people are already dealing with different issues which are associated with the changing behavior of climate. As viewed by  George, G. et al.(2021), With every year it becomes serious and people also lose the time to prevent those issues. While organizations are more focusing on developing sustainability in the business process they are required to identify the issues to deal with those challenges. Day by day the climate is becoming warmer than before. Warm climate is responsible for creating various ranges of risk for the business. Which include disrupted supply chain to labor challenges. Climate change such as warmer weather, fire, and flood have a direct impact on approximately 69.5% of the economic sector globally. Impact on economic graphs create major challenges for the business to develop sustainability business globally. As opined by Seddon, et al. (2021), Companies are focusing on reducing waste materials of business processes or factories and trying to make them less impactful to society and people but organizations are significantly slow to commit to lower their waste release to zero before mid-century.

 

The target on climate change is to necessarily reduce global warming to approximately 1.4 degree Celsius and try to prevent the worst effect of climate changes on the sustainable business process. As discussed by Bocken, et al .(2019),In study it is found that only about “one-fifth” of major organizations have reaching to the net zero waste by 2050. The organizations which set the net-zero targets are slow because of lack of important robustness and permit them to continuously emit greenhouse gasses. The reason for climate change is increased temperature globally and it has various negative impacts on the planet. Environmental impact directly affects the business, society and ecosystems. Mitigating its effect is becoming important to grow sustainable business for the future generation.

Importance of required changes

The adoption of the sustainability business process is not only advantageous for the environment also it improves the social performance of business and supply chains. Sustainability business processes provide competitive advantages to the organization. As stated by Lahti, et al. (2018), Turing into sustainability logistic and operation management give advantage of using features such as live tracking which assists to identify any service disruption and increase the possibility of improving systems for the future generation. Sustainability in the logistics and operation assists to improve efficiency of transformation and lower the cost of transport and its impact on the environment. The reason for moving forward with the changes is logistics transportation releases the maximum greenhouse gas rate which affects the environment vastly. As mentioned by Parida, et al. (2019), Road traffic and transportation affect the air quality significantly which make the direct effect on climate changing. This is also a one of the major reasons for the rapidly growing rate of global warming. Thus, it is important to make changes in the strategies in the logistic and operation management of the business processes to provide improved environment state.

In the context of the climate changing issue in the sustainable business process, it is important to make changes because of some impacts on the logistics and operation management and these are - Manufacturing where increased cost of manufacturing and product management can be seen along with risk of liability. As opined by Pappas, et al. (2018), regulation with carbon emissions and disruption of production or plant lines along with increased rate of productions. Transportation where delays of transport can be caused to pay compensation to operators. Also it can compromise the structure of security stability. Warehousing and storage in this possibility of dislocation can arise due to extreme different weather events. Trading in this reputational risk can be seen due to the high rate of requirements of transparency and decreasing rate of demands of consumers.

To prevent these complications or possibilities of issues can be reduced by evaluating strategies of sustainability business and the advantages could be - emission reduction of forcing miles (total) driven. More opportunities can occur for the drivers and considering the working with transportation which have the latest technology. With the help of technology such as expanding business, the electric car can be a great option for reducing the emission of carbon gas. As discussed by Lüdeke-Freund et al. (2018), it can save the air quality and can reduce the possibilities of negative impact of climate change. New approaches can be beneficial for delivering the products to customers (neighborhood delivery). Configuration in supply chain that can assist alternative ways to fulfill the emergency orders in context of reducing emission of carbon. As stated by Samul (2019), Reduction of carbon gasses is the major component to save the air quality and prevent the chances of climate change which can be beneficial for the future generation.

By evaluating sustainability logistic, reducing CO2 emission can be possible by reducing the rate of unnecessary trips of trucks. Following those roads which have a smaller number of stops can be beneficial because that enables the engine to run at the highest efficiency rate. As stated by Calabrese et al. (2019), Using the battery powered trucks is suitable for the environment as it does not release co2. Planning and detailed checking for the optimized route planning is essential required for the logistic services to get the real time data from the carbon footprint.

Thus, these are the reasons for the business to move forward with sustainable business operation and importance to make changes in planning to gain these advantages and stand significantly in the marketplace as compared to other organizations.

b) Process of adaption of altering strategies -

As mentioned by Paletta, et al. (2021), Adaptations include the change, change of accepting new rules and regulations, new circumstances and evaluation of innovative ideas for establishing the business process. Some of the components of adaptation are different types of discipline from application of different contexts. Three major components of adaptations are system characteristics, adaptation process and the last one is adaptation outcomes, these are captured by the idea of flexibility.

 

Green product design green products refer to the ecofriendly sustainable designed product. Green product design is a business approach to identifying environmental consideration of the system of product development. Adaption of green products is beneficial for the organization as it increases the value of products. By adapting green product organizations can increase their image value in the marketplace and are able to stand significantly in the international market as well.  As opined by Hong, et al. (2019), Organizations are accepting green product design with the first process of working with technology such as artificial intelligence and the internet of things has covered the way of green manufacturing. Sustainability is growing in order to meet consumer expectations and for environmental growth. The first step is analyzing organizational current environmental effects. In this it is required to identify and measure the quantity of the production waste and the quantity of consumed energy each day. As viewed by Li, et al. (2021), determining is important to understand the correct way of reusability of those in the production. Reduce waste keeping efficiency in mind is important to determine where to use machines effectively. Renewable energy leveraging renewal is one of the positive ways to move forward with sustainability. As opined by Hong and Guo (2019), Renewal energy consists of air, rain, sunlight and waves. Solar energy is a vastly used product, almost every organization or factory is trying to use solar energy to sustainable business.

sustainable warehousing - for the best sustainable warehouse planning it starts from energy efficiency where organizations can take the benefit of using sunlight and can evaluate the energy efficiency lighting in the organization. Compact storage systems in this organization can place the insulating materials such as sandwich panels which assist to keep the warehouse cool. Otherwise using air conditions are higher in consuming power which can lead to the energy wastage. Reduce, reuse and recycle in this organization can determine their rate of consumption and identify the necessary material for the production to use less energy or raw material. As discussed by Torabizadeh, et al. (2020), Plastic containers or packing can harm the environmental balance thus, recycling different glass or plastic products can be good for the environment and it minimizes the impact of logistic effects. Bringing warehouses closer making warehouses closer to the consumers is one of the beneficial ways for the organization as well as for the environment. As stated by Ishizaka, et al. (2020), warehouses near the customers' places enable the facility of fast delivery of the product along with better customer service. It also reduces the transportation cost and minimizes the logistic expenses. Less travel is also beneficial for the environment as it will release less carbon gasses thus air quality can be maintained and global warming can be reduced by this process.

Ethical procurement - the rule for good ethics is to practice integrity, avoiding conflict in business processes and treating suppliers or stakeholders equally is the major point of ethical procurement. Ethical procurement assists to boost the brand name where the reputation of the organization can be increased and attacking more customers becomes easy for the organization. As discussed by Israel, Mchopa et al. (2019), this is the ability of an organization to identify the issues and make solutions in an effective and optimal way, also it describes the power of interpretation to the social world within the given field or context. Ethical procurement required a high volume of transparency with the customers which helped the organization to get the access of more consumers for their brand. Creating end to end visibility into the organizational operations is important to work with supply chain and internal workers effectively. As stated by Hughes, Morrison et al. (2019), adapting technology is required for creating this transparency which allows data to be shared on a real time basis and manage the data from the given information. Also making correct strategies for providing the services and giving customers large options for purchasing ethically is a major component of the ethical procurement. Thus, in this way organizations can move forward with the sustainable business process to enable the various advantages of sustainability.

C) Environmental legislation and practices may help to prevent environmental impact

Environmental policy and the policies that follow it are always changing. As a result, the data offered here is intended to give a general overview of climate policy. As stated by Cankaya, and Sezen, (2019), environmental rules clearly have just a huge impact on market activity, and these consequences must be considered when evaluating their implementation. Besides, Environmental legislation refers to a set of laws and regulations water quality, governing air quality, different aspects of environment, wilderness as well as endangered wildlife. Environmental legislation encompasses a wide range of rules and regulations, but they all have the same purpose: to regulate man's relationship with the natural universe in order to lessen environmental hazards and improve public health. Environmental issues such as accelerated depletion of natural resources, deforestation, climate change, and a biodiversity loss led the environmental integrity to deteriorate (Abessa et al. 2019). The fact that such environmental challenges are constantly worsening pushes governments, organizations, businesses, and consumers to adopt environmental safeguards. Meeting today's requirements without compromising outcomes' ability to satisfy their own was defined as sustainability. Sustainability has three elements, according to the literature and this includes environmental, social as well as economic outcomes. Every firm must create a balance in economic, environmental processes as well as social concerns and “be successful in its efforts in all three aspects in order to be sustainable” (Kumar, and Dixit, 2018). However, due to the complex nature of these variables and their interrelationships, achieving this equilibrium and achieving success is difficult.

Environmental activities are seen as a source of significant rewards for businesses in the “natural resource-based view or NRBV”. By decreasing energy use and equipment utilization, boosting stakeholder participation, lowering costs, and eliminating defects, these environmental strategies can improve green business performance. The term "green supply chain" refers to a multidisciplinary challenge that arises primarily from implementing environmentally friendly management techniques in supply networks (Ilankoon et al. 2018). It covers everything from product development to procurement of raw materials and procurement, manufacturing techniques, product distribution, and products end-of-life control. Green design, green distribution, logistics, marketing, reverse logistics, green purchasing as well as green production are all part of the “Green supply chain management” or GSCM process. The green supply chain idea encompasses all stages of a product's life cycle, from raw material extraction to design, manufacture, and marketing, as well as consumer use and discard at the conclusion of the project's lifecycle (Seman et al. 2019). In the value chain, the procurement department is the initial stage. Its success will be determined by the company's ability to integrate environmental efforts, purchasing operations, and environmental goals. As a result, the green purchasing function is an important part of the GSCM.

As per the COP26 goals, two examples are discussed following

“By the middle of the century, achieve global net zero and keep 1.5 degrees within reach”

Countries are now being urged to submit aggressive reducing emissions plans for 2030, with the goal of attaining net zero by the mid - century. To achieve this target, following steps are important to meet

• Curtail deforestation
• accelerate the transition to electric vehicles
• Encourage the use of renewable energy sources.

Protect populations and natural environments by adapting

To reduce emissions, the environment is warming and will continue to change, with disastrous consequences.

• ecosystems to be protected and restored
• To avert the loss of residences, incomes, and now even lives, establish barriers, detection systems, and resilient infrastructure and agriculture.

Green packaging is crucial not just because it is intertwined with the rest of the production chain, but because it has a direct impact on the environment. Simple manufacturing, biocompatible, reducing excessive manufacturing, usage of paper plastic wrapping, less Styrofoam, easy deconstruction, and use of simpler packaging are all examples of green packaging techniques (Roscoe et al. 2019). In addition to this, “green distribution” is a key activity that has an impact on a green supply chain's effectiveness. All activities aimed at reducing environmental destruction and waste throughout transportation are referred to as green distributing. Green distribution effectiveness is influenced by the amount of fuel used by the vehicle conveying the goods, the regularity of transport systems, the range to clients, and package parameters. “Green marketing” entails meeting basic needs while causing the least amount of harm to the environment. Going green refers to attempts to create, advertise, price, and distribute products that are environmentally friendly. Moreover, Mousa, and Othman, (2020) have mentioned that green marketing is viewed as being more of a boost in this study. Every endeavour to decrease the negative consequences of a company's products or services on the ecosystem is covered under GSCM practises. By minimising the utilization of solid wastes and toxic materials, reducing the occurrence of environment degradation, and increasing community welfare, these initiatives have a favourable impact on enhancing environmental sustainability. The recent international revolutions and developments have prompted businesses all over the world to engage on social responsibility, and the population has been compelled to accept the actions that corporations engage in (Abbas, and Sa?san, 2019). As a result, the necessity of ecological responsibility in preserving corporate sustainability has evolved, and corporations are inevitably sensitive to customer relationships.

The social sustainability aspect was investigated in terms of social activities, customer well-being, and learning possibilities for all employees. The mentioned study above looked at how GSCM affected economic efficiency. However, among the GSCM-related topics, social intelligence was mostly overlooked (Mousa, and Othman, 2020). Spreading awareness of “corporate social responsibility”, on the other hand, necessitates equal analysis of the social challenges in supply chain management. Green supply chain strategies will improve a company's credibility in the world of customers, community, employees, as well as the authorities by reducing environmental damage. Business and employee happiness and loyalty are greatly dependent on this positive impression (Gilal et al. 2019). It is a combination of operations that assist conserve environmental capital, save energy, and prevent environmental impact by discarding of things that have reached the end of their useful lives, in addition to financial benefits it brings to businesses. More encouragement for recycling techniques among Turkish enterprises is needed.

Businesses that would like to expand and engage with various areas of society, particularly target consumers, can benefit greatly from marketing strategy. While some companies just try to do this by developing green their marketing, others that are sincerely concerned about the environment and pay extra expenses to do so are still unable to achieve its intended effects since they are unwilling appropriately convey themselves to customers (Mousa, and Othman, 2020). Businesses that are environmentally conscious in their processes should take advantage of persuasive messages more successfully so that they may adequately voice their concerns. In current history, increasing environmental and energy degradation challenges have become serious issues for businesses. The pattern of economic consumption also contributes to a high degree of energy and resource use by businesses in their day-to-day operations. The phrase 'trade association' here refers to manufacturing enterprises, which are thought to be the primary source of environmental resource degradation issues. From resource extraction to advanced materials, production, transportation, usage, construction and replacement, and treatment and disposal, life-cycle assessment is a comprehensive method for measuring ecological impacts connected with all stages of a company unit.

 

“Life cycle assessment” LCAs assess the key environmental consequences such as potentially rising temperatures, disease, and resource shortages. The results enable organisations to identify parts with the greatest ecological consequences, and by contrasting LCA results of various goods or procedures, they can choose which has the lowest environmental effects. Because of the increased attention on ecological issues from customers, the industry, and governments throughout the world, producers have continued to improve multiple environmental initiatives and numerous "green" business models, such as green branding, green technology, and environmental. Customers and purchasers are also includes prompt suppliers to mitigate the negative effects of their industry on the environment by lowering energy and material usage throughout the manufacturing process.

Conclusion

Hence, based on the above study it can be concluded that the sustainable business process is advantageous for the present and future generation. It not only assists to increase the brand value, attract consumers and stand significantly in the marketplace, it also assists to save the environment and prevent the chances of different environmental issues. All businesses whether it is small, medium or large can move forward with innovative technologies and ideas in the context of achieving improved operation of business processes along with minimizing the negative social impacts. A business should be prepared to apply the proper strategies for the coordination and operation to make changes significantly. Sustainable business considers the environmental and social concerns which give advantage to the organization who are expanding their business in a sustainable way. Sustainable business has no negative impact on the society and environment. Using Sustainable coordination service and products are environmentally friendly as a result the purchases of products generate less waste, less amount of pollution in manufacturing and transportation. Sustainable logistic service enables the facility of live tracking transportation which can be helpful for the organization to track any disruption in the transportation.

It is observed and can be concluded that the sustainable business process enables a high rate of opportunities for the new talent to work with organizations in new technology. It also enables the ability to create innovative ideas for the operations to perform processes effectively. Thus, sustainable business in coordination and operation is great for the brand and products. Also, it attracts the customers by providing them real time services. Sustainable business is the future and advantageous for future generations. For example, Turkey appears to have overlooked green procurement methods. Green purchasing is a significant factor in lowering a product's environmental effect over its lifetime. Turkish enterprises must develop closer ecological ties with their suppliers and promote their customers' environmental practises.

 

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